Whilst taking part in a barcoding project in late 2012, I was lucky enough to come across this beautiful and detailed French book. It is in two volumes: the text, and an ‘atlas’ {volume of illustrations}. Although the primary author is listed as Eugéne Alix, the drawings in the atlas were made by Édouard Cuyer. As I was barcoding ‘my’ section – the quarto (larger than a paperback novel, smaller than an atlas of maps) zoological monographs, I had the pleasure of seeing many handsome books, and many more plates and drawings. However, despite a very plain cover, this one stood out, not just because of the especially long title, but also because of what I found inside …a model horse! But it’s definitely designed for adults rather than children: if you’re squeamish, look away now.

Although there are a number of technical line drawings of horse physiology in the text, it was the colour illustrations in the atlas that really stood out. There are 16 plates with movable flaps, and a pocket at the back containing a model, movable, jointed paper horse, with templates. These allow the reader to accurately move the horse’s body, head and limbs so that they occupy the positions used when a horse is cantering, galloping, walking and so on. I confess I spent longer than usual barcoding this book – I couldn’t resist having a go…

The plates themselves are astonishingly detailed. For example, one shows all the structures in the neck: by lifting up a series of flaps, one can navigate from the skin of the animal, to the various muscles and tendons, to the blood vessels, and finally the spinal cord – this is shown in the first picture above. In total, we counted eleven flaps on this plate alone. Even the inside of the flaps have been coloured.

There are eight templates for the model horse, ranging from Amble to Galop [Gallop]. These have a slit cut into the top edge, so that each may be slid up behind the horse, and the body then positioned according to the template marks. Sadly the horse is missing a hoof (the ‘green’ one!), but we have flagged this up and our paper conservator will be examining the volumes for damage and carrying out repairs in the near future. In the meantime, we have updated the catalogue record to make sure that the illustrations and plates are fully described. In addition, the book has been re-classified taking into account its fragility and interest.

Unfortunately, I have not been able to find out much information about the book or its creators. The plates are referenced as being “del (et pinx)” [delineated and painted] by Cuyer, although Imp. [printing imprint] was carried out by Lemercier & Cle Paris. It was published by J.B. Bailliére & Fils [J.B.Balliere and son(s)]. However, we do know that although pop-up books are usually thought of as intended for children, the earliest known books were expensive teaching tools for adults – as this one clearly is.

A sample survey of the breeding birds at woodland expansion sites of the Scottish Forest Alliance in 2007 : a report to Forest Research on behalf of the Scottish Forest Alliance, Ref. CR 2006/07/38 / John Calladine, Graeme Garner and Liz HumphreysThetford, Norfolk : British Trust for Ornithology, 2013.ORNITHOLOGY S 103 M

Description of two new genera and ten new species of Metarbelidae (Lepidoptera: Cossoidea) from western, north-central and eastern Africa with notes on habitats and biogeography / Ingo Lehmann.Hamburg : The author, 2013.E DC MACROLEPIDOPTERA L.41b

The Edward Lear Collection at Harvard University : essays, a checklist of the incomparable collection, and an exhibition catalog on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of Lear's birthCambridge, Mass. : Houghton Library of the Harvard College Library, 2012.L 96A o LEA